São Paulo – Brazil is going to provide training in industrial ownership to African and Middle Eastern countries over the next few months. Last week, the country negotiated the provision of support to the development of patent, trademark, and intellectual ownership registration offices to Middle Eastern and African nations.
During the assembly general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo), in Geneva, Switzerland, the Brazilians signed memorandums of understanding with Arab, African, American, European, and Australian representatives. There was also a meeting with Arab League officials.
According to the Wipo international substitute coordinator general Iloana Rocha, the countries and areas to receive training from Brazilian technicians have not been defined yet, but negotiations are underway. “We will develop projects on an as-needed basis, but there already is a demand for coaching to technicians with regard to patent and trademark registration,” said Rocha.
In May, the Inpi president Jorge Ávila signed a memorandum of understanding with Morocco and met with Omani technicians specializing in industrial ownership. Technicians from Oman may pay a visit to Brazil. Rocha stated that Brazil is being contacted by nations wishing to improve their appraisal and issuance of patent registrations.
“The country is highly regarded by patent organizations,” she said. Still she acknowledged that European countries, Japan and the United States are the most developed countries in that respect. “We send our technicians to be trained in those countries as well,” she said. The developed nations are also the ones with the highest numbers of registered patents.
According to Wipo figures, the five countries with the most patent applications in 2009 were United States, with 45,618 requests, Japan (29,802), Germany (16,797), South Korea (8,035) and China (7,900). Of those, only the Americans and Germans registered less patent applications than in 2008. In 2009, Brazil registered 493 patent applications, according to the Wipo survey. In that same year, the Arab country which registered the most applications was Saudi Arabia, with 70 applications, followed by Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Morocco.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
